Rot
by Magikoopa981
Summary: Mario has been sinking further and further into depression, but a sudden series of increasingly gruesome murders reawakens the spark of his life. Even as Mario tries to solve the deaths, the crimes are beginning to spiral closer and closer to his own friends and family...
1. Chapter One: Iggy Koopa

**Rot**

Chapter One: Iggy Koopa

The first sign of the coming horrors was a bloated, fat corpse floating its way down the usually clear blue river that ran through the center of Toad Town. It was either an unfortunate coincidence or a disgusting plan that the day that Iggy Koopa's corpse came floating through town was the same day that the local children's fair was being held. The first person to spot what used to be Iggy was a sixth grade toad girl trying to find colorful shells in the water. She'd never forget what she found instead.

Mario and Luigi were called, of course. Luigi denied the request, being too horrified by the sound of the crime. He was a hero to deal with the dangerous work, not the terrifying. Mario was the same, but over the last year he had felt something beginning to stir within him, a need for a life beyond rescuing Peach.

It was 3 PM, about two hours after the body was found, that Mario reached the shore that the body had been dragged to. The soggy net used by the local police force lay nearby, brine and sand mottling the discolored rope. Lying on his back, parts of his arms and legs nibbled away by cheep cheeps, was the former Koopa Kingdom prince Iggy Koopa. Half of his face had been chewed off; if it wasn't for the hair it would've been incredibly difficult to identify the corpse.

Iggy's body had been through a lot. The fifteen-year-old koopa had absorbed a lot of water, giving him a bloated appearance. Half of his face, half of his right arm, parts of his left arm, parts of his right leg, and his entire left leg had been eaten away. The left half of his face, the part that was still there, was missing its eyeball: being the softest part of the exterior body, it was likely that the cheep cheeps had eaten it first. The edges of his mouth were eaten away as well, so his teeth were stuck in an eternal grin. His nostrils had been eaten away to form one hole.

The smell was absolutely unbearable. It was the smell of rot, a smell almost indescribable to those who had never experienced it. One could only hope to imagine the smell of vomit, and then imagine that smell completely enshrouded in death. On top of that, one then had to imagine the smells of sea weed, mud, expired milk, and overwhelming feces.

"Are you 100% sure it's not Larry?" The irritating penguin detective Pennington had arrived at the scene slightly before Mario and was apparently taking it upon himself to be the leader of the investigation.

"Yes, I'm sure," Mario said as patiently as he could. He had dealt with the penguin idiot three times before: once in a train mystery involving a bomb, and twice in isolated murder cases centered in Toad Town. Each time Pennington had been far more of a nuisance than a help. "This is clearly Iggy's green hair. Larry's is blue."

Mario drew his glove up as far along his arm as he could before he gently grabbed the sopping blue mesh of hair that emerged from the corpse's head. Pennington continued to argue; Mario ignored him.

Captain Toad, the head of the local police force, approached Mario slowly. He was a spineless coward but he was also a lot smarter than Pennington. "W-w-w-we ch-ch-ch-checked the body q-q-quite thoroughly, sir, and we believe the cause of death is… strangulation."

"Oh? Thank you, Captain Toad." Mario kneeled down and moved slightly the half of the head that was left. A quarter of the neck had been eaten away by hungry fish just the same as the rest, but the lacerations and unnatural shape of the remaining body part was incredibly evident: Iggy Koopa had indeed been strangled to death. And by the dragging cuts lining his neck, it was likely that the strangling was achieved by either a weapon or by some kind of rope.

"I thought Iggy Koopa had glasses." Pennington declared, as if the lack of glasses confirmed that the body was Larry's. "This is clearly Larry Koopa- in fact, the signs point to IGGY being the murderer!"

"Jesus Christ you're an idiot, shut up," Mario wondered if the little blue idiot had done anything useful in his life. "The glasses were washed away to god-knows-where, if our murderer didn't remove them himself."

Mario looked into Iggy's gaping eye hole and wondered quietly. _I've fought this little bastard for a long time- or at least, it feels like a long time. _

_Me and the Koopa Troop have been fighting over Peach for years now…but it was always just a game between us, I suppose. As time went, we started to not really care about what we were doing, playing our stupid games. Peach never really cared either, or maybe same as us, she just grew to not care the same. Why would someone kill one of Bowser's children anyway? What's the point? The little brats can't do anything. And why Iggy? Fuck, I always feel like he's the most forgettable one._

Mario sighed and stood up.

"Someone'll contact Bowser, right?" Mario zipped up the brown coat he had brought with him. It felt like it was going to rain soon.

"B-B-B-B-Bowser?" Captain Toad trembled.

"God damn, shut up." For what felt like the hundredth time that year, Mario wanted to scream at everyone: Bowser is not a threat, Bowser is not really a monster, Bowser doesn't really care, just like I don't really care. We are both just stuck in the roles we started out in, never evolving past them to something better. We don't even care, none of us do. It's a stupid joke that any of you still take any of this seriously. "Just contact Bowser, and don't be an idiot about it. The guy just lost a son." He would've added that he wanted to talk to Bowser, but he'd get the chance once the big guy came to pick up his son's body.

Mario started walking away. Pennington started blabbering some nonsense to the others nearby, Mario prayed that the no one would listen to him. He didn't have time to stand around and get angry.

He could still remember the last murder case that both Mario and Pennington had been interested in. Mario had almost completely lost it.

_But then,_ a voice in the back of Mario's head laughed, _you aren't actually a detective, are you? You're the Royal Hero, and it's your job to play your part in the grand theatre of life as the person who rescues Peach again and again. It's not Pennington's fault that you're sick of it- sick of it all to the point of suicide- and that the only way you can get your kicks is by coming to these gruesome murders._

_You really have no idea how these things work, and yet you're taking it upon yourself to become head investigator now, more and more. Who are you, anyway? Do you honestly think you're more than a puppet? What a joke. You think Pennington's an idiot, and yet you're the one who can't stay in line. _

The crime scene was out of sight now, and it had begun to rain. Mario treasured the cold droplets falling from the infinitely gray sky and landing all over his body. It was like getting touched by God: continual taps of cold unfeeling.

_The best part of this whole grand joke is that the toad's respect you too much to tell you that you're no detective at all. You don't know anything about solving crimes._

Indeed, the last two murders that Mario had tried to solve had been indicative enough of his personal skills.

_But they wish to humor you. It's the least they can do, what, with everything you've done for them. They're willing to let you help, forever, despite the fact that your own investigations are a waste of time for everyone. You couldn't solve the last two crimes, you can't solve this one._

But it wasn't to be just one. This was the beginning of something that no one in the Mushroom Kingdom would ever forget. A crime that would make Mario actually care about what he did again.

Mario had almost reached Podley's Place, his favorite bar, when one of Captain Toad's lackeys came running up behind Mario.

"Mario! Mario! By boogity, there's been another murder!" Toadbert was beginning to stutter wildly. "The Princess-!"

* * *

**Author's Notes: My laptop's harddrive crashed a few days ago, and I've been hoping that my numerous amounts of story notes have not been lost. It looks like it's going to be another week for it to get repaired (at which point I'll find out the status of my papers) so while I wait I'm going to do little updates for this completely unplanned new story here. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter Two: Princess Daisy

Chapter Two: Princess Daisy

The Grand Mushroom Hotel, located in the eastern district of Toad Town.

Princess Daisy of Sarasaland laid sprawled out on a coverless mattress, arms tied with rope to the poles of a usually fancy bed and head messily chopped away from the body. Her face showed pure shock, her mouth slightly open, eyes that had been widened now slightly slumped: a look of inevitable surprise only capable in death. Her crown was missing. The blood that had gorged from Daisy's neck had soaked incredibly deep into the bed's mattress.

"I don't know what happened!" Daisy's personal servant, Birdo, squealed. "I was out of the hotel for the day in order, in order to get some refreshments, but, but, when I got back to the room-!"

"What kind of refreshments?" Mario questioned. He wasn't sure what exactly to ask.

"What kind of…what kind of refreshments?" Birdo shrieked hysterically. "What kind of question is that?!"

"Calm down, lady!" Mario snapped his fingers loudly. The sound echoed through the room like a bone snapping. "Just tell me what you were buying!"

"Food! Snacks!" Birdo cried. "We, we hadn't been in the, the Mushroom Kingdom for a long time, so we wanted some of the, some of the delicacies here!"

Mario waited for some further answer, but nothing came. Then again, what else had he been expecting? "Oh."

Birdo was clearly suspicious, easily suspect number one. She was the only other person who had access to Daisy's room, having the only other key. Unfortunately, there were two problems there: the door had been broken into, and the window looking out into the small garden outside had been shattered. The pieces of glass lay outside, so it was clear that the door had been broken into, and then the murderer had jumped through the window. Probably.

_Birdo- now she's an interesting case. _Mario thought distractedly. _We used to be enemies, and then she changed. She changed her role- from enemy to some strange kind of party guest. How the hell did that happen? I always meant to ask her about that. _He was getting the feeling again of a multitude of strings being attached to his arms and legs.

"Aa-HAH! You must be the murderer of Larry Koopa!" Detective Pennington barged in, pointing viciously at Birdo with a flipper. "And now you've murdered the dear Princess Daisy!"

"Pennington," Mario said with a growl, preparing to tell the overeager detective to shut up and get out. There was almost no way Birdo was the killer- and there was no reason for Iggy and Daisy's murders to be linked, other than the fact that they were both strangely vicious for the Mushroom Kingdom. It was a coincidence that Iggy's body had been found just a few hours earlier; he'd had to have been dead for at least three days based on the water and fish-inflicted damage to his body. There was no reason for Birdo to be connected to that.

No- Birdo had only just arrived in town a few days ago, hadn't she? She and Daisy had come in on the Mushroom Kingdom's famous Excess Express, reporters swarming them for the first few hours after their arrival. The reporters had remained around them like flies. Unless Birdo had snuck off somehow, she had a watertight alibi for Iggy…no pun intended. Not to mention motive…

It didn't matter anyway. Everyone could sense the tension in the room. The toad police wanted to arrest someone, and at least with this murder there was a clear suspect. Despite his lack of rank, Mario could sense all eyes on him, waiting for the order.

He threw one hand up carelessly in the air. "Go ahead." Whatever. He just needed to have some faith that he'd find the real killer soon enough- at least, the killer responsible for what had happened to Daisy.

"C-c-cuff 'im…er, uh, her…" Captain Toad ordered as nervously as usual. Birdo shot him a furious look before a heavyset police toad grabbed Birdo's arms from behind and handcuffed them together.

Birdo begin struggling immediately. "What are you, you doing!?"

"Birdo," Captain Toad declared after stepping back a few feet. "Y-y-you are under the arrest for, uh, the murders of Iggy…"

Mario shook his head.

"Uh, I m-mean, you are under the arrest for the murder of Princess Daisy of Sarasaland." Captain Toad continued on. "You have the right to remain silent when questioned; anything you say or do may be used against you…"

"You can't FUCKING DO THIS!" Birdo suddenly screamed, causing everyone in the room to jump, Captain Toad managing to even higher than Mario.

"…in a, in a…" Captain Toad struggled, sudden panic overwhelming him. He gestured to Toadbert to continue for him, and then he left the room in a hurry. Mario scowled and after glancing over at the crime scene for another few seconds, followed. It had been exciting at first: seeing the body, but now he wanted to be out of the room. He'd leave Pennington to investigate with his usual nonsense.

_Rope tied Daisy's arms to the bed…if rope was used to strangle Iggy, than that'd be a connection, wouldn't it?_

"Mario." He was stopped in the hotel lobby by Captain Toad, who looked oddly concerned. "A-are you alright?"

"What?" Mario asked bluntly. He felt perfectly fine. Did he look like he was panicking or something? Heck, he should've been the one asking the question to Toad. "I'm great, I feel like I have seven lives. Why?"

"You…you seem stiff, Mario," Captain Toad said nervously. "I…I don't know. You're h-hardly reacting to this." He shifted. "Er, I mean, I don't mean to sound, er…"

_Princess Daisy was a personal friend of mine, wasn't she?_ Mario thought miserably in his head. _But I don't feel any different than usual. What does that mean? Does that mean I don't really care? Or does it mean that even before this had happened, I already felt like a friend had died? That wasn't from Iggy, was it? _

_Then again, who was Daisy to me anyway? She played games with us, and I even rescued her once…but then, what else? Did we even really like each other? Were we just pretending to be friendly? To align our kingdoms? I feel like I hardly even knew anything about her._

"Mario, I'm r-really sorry!" Captain Toad butted into his thoughts. "I, I wasn't thinking…!"

"It's nothing…" Mario said tiredly. "Was there anything else? I really need to get somewhere." He really needed a drink at Podley's.

Captain Toad fidgeted. "No…well, actually, um…"

Birdo, thrashing and screaming, interrupted them. Birdo and several police toads, Pennington not among them, headed for the front door of the hotel. Once they were out, and the serene lobby was quiet again, Captain Toad turned seriously to face Mario.

"M-Mario, I have a kind of instinct for"-He cleared his throat at this point-"…for certain things, and… I feel like Birdo was lying."

"You think she killed Larry and Daisy?" Mario shrugged.

"N-not necessarily…but," Captain Toad looked around nervously, Mario wasn't sure for what. "I'm sure she was lying about what she was out purchasing when Princess Daisy was murdered."

That was oddly specific, but then Birdo hadn't said much, had she? She was going to be questioned further down at the police station, at least…

"So you think she was lying about what she bought…but not that she was buying something?" Mario asked skeptically.

"I'm not sure…" Captain Toad looked around again, and then shook his head. He still seemed to be incredibly nervous about something. "I…I don't know. Um…I'll see you later at t-the station?"

"Uh…" Mario was surprised by the sudden end in the conversation. "Yes…tomorrow." After his hard drink he wanted to investigate Larry's death a bit more.

"G-got it." Captain Toad nodded almost imperceptibly and then began walking away. Mario was still standing in thought when Captain Toad turned back for a moment.

"T-terrible this had to happen the week before the Kart Tournament, huh?"

It was an odd detail for Toad to bring up, but when Mario thought about it, Princess Daisy had been planning to attend, hadn't she? In fact, that was why she had come to Mushroom City.

Mario sighed as Captain Toad finally left the building. What a mess. What a goddamn mess.

And then even worse: he remembered he'd have to tell Luigi about what had happened.

* * *

**/A/N/: This story follows two major themes: the mystery of the murders, and some realizations Mario begins to have about the world he lives in. The murder mystery is more important overall, but expect the narrative to also be affected by the other theme of the story. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter Three: Morton Koopa Jr

Chapter Three: Morton Koopa Jr.

Mario hung up his coat on the bar's coat rack and headed for the counter. He just needed a small drink before he investigated upriver.

"Mystery Drink please." Mario told the bartender Podley as he sat down. He was the only one in besides Diddy Kong who was crying silently about something nearby and Koopa who was staring unevenly at a nearby wall. _Buncha weirdoes,_Mario thought a bit rudely.

Diddy Kong was an enigma, one of Donkey Kong's friends who had showed up at a golf tournament one day and had stuck around like a pest ever since. The monkey had the patience, resolve, and mind of a child, and yet the age to drink with other adults in an establishment.

Koopa was even stranger; a regular koopa who had taken it upon himself to represent the koopa species and had officially changed his name to achieve his goal. Someone had misprinted Bowser's invitation to the first Mario Kart Tournament, and Koopa had taken the Party Committee to court claiming that the papers from then on were legally inviting him. Koopa won the case and had since then remained something of an annoyance to some of the other Kart participants— as someone who had forced his way in rather than receive a "real" invitation.

Mario really didn't care. Koopa seemed like a nice enough guy even if his views on Mario seemed to flip one way or the other every single day.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Diddy Kong suddenly screeched just as Mario took hold of his drink. The sound surprised him and he spilled all over the wooden counter, one angle away from staining his overalls.

"What the hell's ya problem?" Mario spat, his old accent creeping in during his anger. _…Old accent?_

"Don't start with me!" Diddy bawled. "Donkey's gone missing, and, and…" He chugged down the rest of his drink wildly, his crooked cap almost falling off as he threw his head back.

Donkey Kong was a pathetic criminal, just as the rest of his family had been. Mario had fought once with his grandfather, Cranky Kong, over an old girlfriend, as well as DK's father when Mario had captured Cranky Kong in a cage. Confusingly enough, Cranky Kong had called himself Donkey Kong at one point and the current Donkey Kong's father had _always _called himself Donkey Kong Jr. Mario supposed that the creature still did, wherever he was.

To summarize the Kong family tree: Cranky Kong - Donkey Kong Jr. - Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong himself was known for being a nuisance at parties and constantly trying to rob Mario's mini-toy company for god knows what reason. Based on some past experiences Mario had concluded that Donkey Kong was obsessed with toys and other contrapments.

"Stupid kid…" Mario growled to himself. He glanced down at his spilled drink with some embarrassment. "Sorry Podley, I…"

"It's alright, Mario." Podley said with the same hint of comforting wisdom in his voice as usual. "No charge for your next drink. I heard you're trying to solve these new murders that are going around."

_Damn, Podley learns things fast. _Mario thought soberly. _He always was a rumor mill, wasn't he? _"Yeah, it's true. A real mess."

"Hmmm…" Podley leaned down near Mario. "Actually, I heard something interesting about Koopa's death…" _Iggy Koopa…_

"Oh GOD!" Diddy Kong shrieked wildly, throwing his mug against the wall and scampering out. The glass shattered against the wall near Koopa who was now reading a newspaper. He didn't react at all.

Podley sighed long and low before continuing. "Word has it that Larry Koopa was meeting with someone here in Toad Town three days before he was found dead."

"Yeah?" Mario pressed forward with interest.

"They say he was meeting with Princess Daisy, just walking through town and talking." Podley backed away and spoke in a normal tone again. "I don't know what it means, though…"

Mario felt that what he had just been told was definitely a big clue. "Thanks, Podley." Mario said as thankfully as he could.

"No problem, Mario." Podley served another drink before going to clean up the shattered glass on the floor. "Always glad to help you."

An hour later and back in the misty outside, Mario happened to run into Bowser who was making his way down the street accompanied by five of his children: Wendy, Roy, Lemmy, Ludwig, and Bowser Jr. While Bowser was keeping solemn and dignified, each of his children had broken down and were crying— even Ludwig.

"Hmph. Good afternoon, Mario." Bowser said gruffly. Slight shifts in his eyes betrayed the agony he was hiding.

"Good afternoon, Bowser." Mario replied, unsure of how to move forward. The truth was, he felt sadder for the Koopa King then he did for Princess Daisy. He and Bowser almost had a secret friendship by this point, he felt. As much as that meant, in this increasingly cardboard world.

"Where is he?" Bowser drove straight to the point. Mario admired his bravery, even in the face of his child's death.

"Down by the river. There was a fair set up…you should still be able to see some of the tents." Mario pointed.

"Alright." Bowser nodded and moved ahead, his children following after. Mario wondered where Bowser's other living children were: Larry, Morton, and Bowser Jr.

_He'll probably burst into tears once he reaches the site, _Mario thought tepidly. _Unless he's feeling like I am. _

Mario shivered and moved ahead. _Then again, I don't have children. I don't really know what kind of feelings a death like that would bring. Would I be happier if I had kids? Little tots to bounce on my knees…_

The idea sounded vaguely nice, but not enough to propose marriage to Peach. He had always felt some internal chasm preventing him from going anywhere beyond a kiss. It used to tear him up inside, drive him mad… but now he was used to it. This was just the way things were. The way things had always been. Unchanging.

Mario shivered and stuck his hand into his pocket to keep a little warmer. His gloves brushed up against something thin and crispy. His imagination raced but when he had removed his hand from his pocket he found that it was just a slip of paper, torn away and messily scratched on with pencil.

XMortOn Koopa JR. is alreaDy deadX

* * *

**AN: The Donkey Kong family tree is not some over-complicated stuff I'm making up, it's pretty much official. You can learn more at the Super Mario Wiki.**


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